Well, Final Crisis is back this week, with two issues in the tale. Final Crisis: Submit is solicited as a tie-in one-shot, but really you can read it alongside Final Crisis #4 as part of the main story. The fact that its also written by Morrison is probably key to this.
Its no secret that I’m really enjoying this story. In fact, while I may be enjoying Secret Invasion, I’m far preferring the story of Final Crisis. Secret Invasion is fun, but the mini itself has been a bit lacking compared to the scope of the event itself, and I’m just finding that Final Crisis is trying to do something a bit more epic (in terms of buildup though, Secret Invasion’s slow reveal of the Skrull invasion was tops. Of course, Final Crisis had Countdown for its buildup).
We rejoin the story with evil having won in the DCU. Earth is still cut off by the Green Lanterns, and has fallen to the New Gods and the anti-life equation. Those few anti-life survivors are hunted by Justifiers, humans and super humans who’ve been taken over by helmets such as we saw The Human Flame being forced into and now serve as Darkseid’s troops.
Meanwhile Inspector Turpin is desperately trying to resist Darkseid’s influence as Darkseid attempts to break his will and possess his body.
This is an awesome storyline. The feeling that the world has truely gone to pot, and that hope is thin on the ground seeps from every page. This is possibly best demonstrated by the hopeful headlines on the Daily Planet about trying to reclaim Bludhaven, only to cut to a double-page spread of the atomic knights all defeated, or by the sights of big name heroes being captured and turned into Justifiers.
We see the heroes rallying to the various Watchtowers they have setup around the world, but even then, with a lot of the heavy hitters MIA or offworld, there’s a feeling that they’re under seige and the odds are badly against them.
There’s only really one strand of hope offered in the tale, as Barry and Wally arrive in this post-anti-life world and Barry fills us in that he’s been brought back by an unknown force (be interesting to see who that turns out to be). Barry knows what’s going on (Darkseid’s fall is endangering the multiverse) and this alone fills you with the hope that whoever brought him back had a good reason for doing so. This then bears fruit when they find an anti-life infected Iris, and Barry’s kiss breaks its hold over her. Given Libra’s concerns over the Flashes in Rogue’s Revenge, its obvious that Barry, Wally and Jay are going to hold the key to resolving this crisis.
But until they figure it out, we’re left with things looking pretty bleak for Earth (and Oa, with the Granny-possessed Kraken after the central power battery – I hope we see that storyline). This is underlined by Turpin’s battle of wills with Darkseid. A battle he knows he’s slowly losing, and that last page sent shivers down my spine. I’ve never been a fan of the new gods or Darkseid, but this series is changing that.
Comments